Early opposition to Tsardom

1. Early opposition to Tsardom Revolutionaries and Liberalists

2. The reformers • Reformers were also known as Liberals • The boom of the 1890s led to the development of a middle class of industrialists, lawyers and financiers • National minorities viewed the liberal movement as a means of expressing their wish to be independent of Russian control • Two principal liberal parties came to prominence in the pre-1914 period – the Octobrists and the Kadets

3. The octobrists • Dated from the issuing of the Manifesto of October 1905 • Believed in the Empire and considered the Manifesto and creation of the Duma as major constitutional advances • Mainly drawn from commercial, industrial and landowning classes • Leading members were Alexander Guchkov (a factory owner) and Mikhail Rodzianko (landowner) • Did not want to overthrow the tsar, but were often highly critical of his ideas in the dumas

4. The constitutional democrats (Kadets) • Also came into being after the 1905 Revolution • The largest of the liberal parties • Believed in constitutional monarchy, the tsar’s powers being restricted by an elected national assembly • Wanted full equality and civil rights for all citizens, the recognition of trade unions and universal, free education • Members were intelligentsia, entrepreneurs and professionals • Kadet leader was Paul Milyukov (history professor)

5. Guchkov, rodzianko & milyukov

6. The revolutionaries • The revolutionary forces in Russia comprised three major elements: • The Populists • The Social Revolutionaries • The Social Democrats

7. The populists • Dated from the 1870s, mainly drawn from the middle and upper classes • Regard the future of Russia as being in the hands of the peasants • Believed the peasants should overthrow the tsar • Thought it was their duty to educate the peasantry into an awareness of its revolutionary role – ‘going to the people’ • Educated revolutionaries went from the universities to the countryside to live with the peasants

8. continued • Peasants tended to find the Populists patronising and failed to cooperate • In desperation some Populists turned to terrorism • In 1879 ‘The People’s Will’ was founded with the intention of murdering the ruling classes • Assassinated Alexander II in 1881 • Most of the revolutionaries in Russia after 1870 were inspired or influenced by the populist challenge to tsardom

9. The socialist revolutionaries (srS) • Grew out of the Populist movement • After the boom of the 1890s the Populists began to agitate among the workers • Victor Chernov was the brains behind the SR • Between 1901-05 the SR were responsible for over 2000 political assassinations • After the 1905 Revolution the moderate Right SRs experienced growing support from the professional classes and trade unions • From 1906 The SR Party committed itself to ‘revolutionary socialism’ and promised the peasants it would return the land to those who worked it

10. The social democrats (sds) • The All-Russian Social Democratic Labour Party came into being in 1898 • Main aim was to achieve revolution following the ideas of Karl Marx • Marx argued that the industrial era was the final stage of a long class struggle after which the working classes would be victorious over the bourgeoisie • The ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ was the prelude to the creation of the perfect society • George Plekhanov was the ‘founding father of Russian Marxism’

11. Plekhanov and lenin • Plekhanov translated Marx’s writings into Russian and had worked to promote the interest of the industrial workers • Members of the party soon became impatient with him, finding him too theoretical • Some were angry that he believed Russia was not politically advanced enough for a successful proletarian rising • Plekhanov felt the revolutionary parties should merely try to improve the workers’ conditions • VladimireUlyanov (Lenin) was an outstanding critic of Plekhanov’s line

12. Lenin’s impact on the sds • With a colleague, Julius Martov, he founded a party newspaper, Iskra (the Spark) • Lenin argued that Plekhanov was more interested in reform than revolution • Lenin wanted conditions to get worse so that the bitterness of the workers would increase and drive the proletariat to revolution • In 1902 Lenin wrote a pamphlet called What is to be done? in which he berated Plekhanov for seeking cooperation with other anti-tsarist groups

13. Plekhanov and Lenin

14. The bolshevik-menshevik split • At the 1903 SD Party congress in 1903 Lenin tried to force the SDs to choose between his and Plekhanov’s ideas • Lenin wanted a small exclusive party and Plekhanov preferred a broad-based party open to all revolutionaries • A deep divide also developed between Julius Martov and Lenin. Martov thought Lenin wanted to become dictator of the party • In a series of votes the SD congress was evenly split between Lenin and Martov but after a particular set of divisions went in Lenin’s favour he claimed that he was in the majority

15. continued • This led to their being called the Bolsheviks while Martov’s group became known as the Mensheviks • By 1912 the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks had become two distinct and opposed Marxist parties • Lenin set up his own journal as an instrument for attacks upon the Mensheviks • A Bolshevik daily paper, Pravda (truth) was published in 1912

16. Differences between the mensheviks and bolsheviks